Adaptive Performance Management
Engaged employees
drive business outcomes
APM is an approach to performance management that cultivates the strengths, drive, and creativity of your employees. APM strives for a stronger correlation between performance management and the results of the organization.
Do you feel performance reviews in your organization are not as effective as you want them to be?
Here’s what HR professionals and business leaders are saying:
%
Ineffective use of time
51% believe their performance management system is not an an effective use of their time.
%
Engagement & performance
90% believe their performance management system does not really drive employee engagement and high performance.
%
Drive business value
92% believe that their performance management process does not drive business value.
*Source: Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report
There is a more effective way
Research finds zero correlation between individual performance management and the actual performance of organizations. That is a shocking revelation. It proves there is a need for change. APM provides a fundamental overhaul of employee performance management. One that is cost-effective and drives business performance.
Engagement drives performance
To improve performance we must go back to it’s core: employee engagement. It’s engagement that drives the creativity, persistence, and motivation of people that leads to better performance. As a matter of fact, engagement is a powerful leading indicator for performance.
Measure employee engagement and build a workplace that supports the key engagement components of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
Focus on individual strengths
In most organizations, employee performance management practices are remedial in nature. They focus on improving relative weaknesses. APM focuses on strengths instead. People are much more likely to excel in areas they are already good at, and which energize them.
APM proposes to measure everyone’s strengths and support them to mold jobs around their strengths to increase both productivity and engagement.
Collaboration and teamwork
Work is highly collaborative. Nobody can reach goals in isolation. People depend on each-other’s work. More and more people work in teams. Individual performance reviews do not capture this collaborative nature of work.
APM’s Job Clarification practice helps employees understand how their job matters to others. So they can focus on improving their work in a way that benefits the people they work with as well.
Achieve perfect synergy
between employee engagement and company results
For HR Professionals...
… who want to fundamentally improve the performance management system in their organization in a way that leads to happier employees as well as increased performance and productivity. Without wasting thousands of hours on performance reviews that only tell yesterday’s news.
For team leads and managers...
… who want their employees to be their best possible self. Great team leaders understand that the best way to help employees thrive is not to tell them what to do, provide alle the answers, and solve all their problems. Rather, they coach employees to make decisions themselves, try out new things, and simply give attention. Often.
For business leaders...
… who understand people are their most important asset and want to connect the potential of the organization’s people to better business outcomes. Organizations need to adapt faster than ever. Your people are what drives adaptability. Not big data, or AI. Carbon over silicon.
Short feedback loops
Traditional performance reviews often look at the past. Unfortunately, the past doesn’t say much about future performance. APM focuses on short feedback loops and near-term work instead. Resulting conversations are much more actionable and relevant.
attention over judgement
Despite good intentions traditional review meetings are about the judgement of the reviewer. APM replaces judgmental feedback with supportive attention for the needs of the employee on near-term goals.
Cost-effective
Deloitte found they spend close to two million hours per year on creating performance ratings. That is still zero hours on actual performance improvement! APM’s practices cost time for sure. But every hour is spend on what the employee needs right now to succeed.
Scientific and practical
APM leverages scientific insights in how employee engagement works, and how it relates to performance. Our approach is founded in f.e. Self-Determination Theory and Systems Thinking. At the same time, our practices are based on years of practical experience in areas like employee engagement; team dynamics; and leadership.
Reflects collaboration
APM focuses on the collaborative nature of work. Hardly anyone can achieve results on their own these days. And the outcome of the job of one employee influences that of another. Individual performance reviews do not capture this very well. APM focuses on the leader’s job to help clarify how jobs related to others jobs and to the overall goals of the team, department, and organization.
The role of the leader
Research shows that there is nothing that influences engagement of employees and teams as much as the manager. So, it’s no surprise that APM focuses a lot on the role of the manager. A modern leader creates other leaders, rather than attracting followers. APM proposes nine stances of a modern leader that each have their place and time.
Do you want to improve performance but you are uncertain how to start?
Take the first step. Assess how your organization’s performance management practices stack up against our guidelines. Identify the gaps. Discover your next steps. Our free quick scan is a quick way to determine areas of attention and build momentum for change.
Or go all the way and purchase our comprehensive full assessment with lots of actionable tips and an hour of consultancy to guide you through the results and next steps.
Adaptive Performance Management
e-learning course
Step into the future of performance management. Tap into the intrinsic motivation of your employees and unleash their full potential.
Get our on-demand Adaptive Performance Management course, a fundamentally different approach. We focus on developing strengths, rather than reducing weaknesses; and turn your managers into actionable supportive coaches.
Learn more about APM
Learn more about what APM is; read our guidelines; and discover the APM model.
Why is change needed?
Learn more on the challenges of traditional performance management and the needs for change.
How to get started?
Our Getting started page provides all the information needed to get on your way.
Discover areas of improvement for your performance management